Only the German-language version is legally binding.
Business trips to locations outside the work locations Mainz or Germersheim require prior electronic approval. This requirement does not apply to business trips conducted under general or individual blanket approvals. Business trips by university professors only require electronic notification.
Approval as a business trip covers the duration of the official business and the necessary travel time to and from the destination. If the business trip is combined with a private stay, air travelers must obtain a comparative offer at the time of booking and attach it to the application for reimbursement of travel expenses (see also under “Principle of Place of Work” and “Combining Business Travel with Private Stays”).
Any safety instructions and entry requirements for the countries visited can be found on the website of the Federal Foreign Office (www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en) and must be considered.
During a business trip, accident insurance coverage is generally provided while performing business duties, for necessary travel to and from the destination, and for travel at the place of business. In case of damage, salaried employees are subject to a case-by-case review by the responsible accident insurance fund in Rhineland-Palatinate, while civil servants are reviewed by the Civil Servants Law Unit of the Human Resources and Legal Affairs Department.
Therefore, any accident occurring during a business trip must be reported immediately, at the latest after returning from the business trip. You can find the relevant form at www.arbeitsschutz.uni-mainz.de/unfallanzeige/ (only in german).
Approval of the use of a private vehicle for a business trip does not necessarily lead to liability being assumed in the event of property damage. A decision on this matter can only be made following a case-by-case review.
In agreement with the business travelers, a lower travel expense reimbursement than that provided for in the State Travel Expense Act may be determined when ordering or approving the business trip. The determination should generally be based on the business trip permission; any separate agreements must be attached to the application for business trip permisson and the application for reimbursement of travel expenses.
If a business trip begins or ends at the employee’s residence or another location outside the official place of work, only travel and flight costs equivalent to those that would have been incurred if the journey had started or ended at the official place of work shall be reimbursed. Therefore, it is strictly required that, for flights not departing from or arriving at the airport nearest to the official place of work, a corresponding comparative quote must be obtained.
Business trips must primarily be carried out using regularly scheduled modes of transport. Reimbursement shall cover only the costs of travel in the lowest available class. For train journeys of at least three hours’ duration to a business destination outside the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, costs for the next higher class may be reimbursed. Discounts on fares must be utilized; a private BahnCard or private Deutschlandticket must be used to reduce travel costs. The cost of a Deutschlandticket may be reimbursed upon application, provided that its use during a business trip or across multiple business trips within the monthly validity period fully offsets its cost. Partial reimbursement of purchase costs or hypothetical reimbursement of travel expenses is not permitted.
The use of an airplane can only be approved if it is necessary for the business trip.
Mileage reimbursement for the use of a private car is currently granted at a rate of €0.28 per kilometer, if there are valid reasons. If there are no valid reasons, the mileage reimbursement is currently at a rate of €0.18 per kilometer.
Flights for business trips can be booked through ATG, the travel agency that cooperates with JGU. Please send your business trip permission by email to ATG. To ensure smooth processing, it is therefore necessary that applications for business trip permission are submitted in a timely manner and completed with particular care regarding the cost center. Invoices for flights booked through ATG are generally charged via the Lufthansa AirPlus Company Card; in such cases, travelers will not receive a personal invoice from ATG, but rather the incurred costs and the CO₂ compensation amount will be charged directly to the respective cost unit. In cases where booking via the Lufthansa AirPlus Company Card is not possible or intended, travelers must pay for the booked services directly and claim reimbursement through their travel expense report.
The travel services can be booked at the travel agency ATG, Mergenthalerallee 73-75, 65760 Eschborn, Tel. +49 69 9675 5700,
E-Mail: central.de@atgtravel.com
Business flights are subject to a CO2 compensation requirement based on a decision by the Council of Ministers. Therefore, if a business trip must be conducted by plane, a compensation payment must be made to the Rhineland-Palatinate Nature and Environment Foundation for the resulting climate-damaging CO2 emissions.
The standardized compensation amounts are charged subsequently by the Finance and Procurement Department to the respective cost centers from which the flight was paid, in accordance with the polluter-pays principle, and remitted centrally.
Further information on this topic can be found under Business Trips at https://www.humanresources.uni-mainz.de/
For stays in tropical, subtropical, and regions with particular climatic stresses and risks of infection, occupational health consultation is mandatory before departure. For JGU employees based in Mainz, these consultations are conducted by the Occupational Health Service of the University Medical Center, by prior appointment (Tel. 06131-172233), E-Mail: jgu-bad@unimedizin-mainz.de. It is necessary to make an appointment in a timely manner, ideally 6 to 8 weeks before the start of the business trip, in order to carry out the consultation. The appointment request to the Occupational Health Service can also be submitted directly within the electronic business travel application process.
Please bring the completed registration form, signed by your supervisor, to the consultation appointment. The form can be downloaded under the "Business Trips" section at https://www.humanresources.uni-mainz.de/
Employees based in Germersheim may consult a a local travel medicine service, no official certificate from the employer is required, as the service provider will issue an invoice directly to be submitted to the respective department or unit.
Business trips to the affected areas must therefore be applied for in a timely manner so that there is enough time for a consultation and, if necessary, any missing vaccinations. The costs for counseling and any necessary examinations or vaccinations should be covered by the respective organizational unit; for employees funded by third-party funds, the costs should be financed from the third-party funded project.
You can find a list of the affected areas on our homepage in the FAQ under Business Trips. Anlage-11-Staatenliste-AMV.pdf (only in german)
If the business trip is combined with a private stay, private travel medical precautions must be taken for this duration. The occupational health consultation arranged by JGU only applies to the business part of the trip.
If the occupational health consultation is not carried out, the conditional approval of the business trip becomes void, and any reimbursement of travel expenses is excluded.
JGU Mainz and book-n-drive are cooperating in the area of mobility. Book-n-drive car-sharing vehicles are available at the main entrance of JGU in the colonnade area. Employees have the option of renting car-sharing vehicles for business use at special rates. If you are interested in this offer, you must register on the book-n-drive information page for JGU Mainz. The cost of using the vehicles with the personal customer card is charged to the private account. The car sharing service is considered rental car use for travel expense purposes. Reimbursement of expenses incurred during business trips may be granted if there are valid reasons for using a rental car in specific individual cases. Please state these reasons on the application for reimbursement of travel expenses.
It is generally possible to combine a business trip with a private stay. The assessment of the proportionality of the duration of the business trip to the private stay and the granting of leave in Gisbo are the responsibility of the supervisor or the organizational unit. If vacation is taken before or after the business trip, travel expense reimbursement is limited to the route place of employment - business destination - place of employment and the necessary stay to complete the business trip. In the case of air travel, a comparative offer must be obtained simultaneously with the booking of the actual flights, clearly indicating the flight costs that would have been incurred if traveling directly to the destination immediately prior to the business activity or returning directly immediately afterward. This comparative offer must be submitted together with the application for reimbursement of travel expenses.
If vacation is taken before and after the business trip, only the travel costs from the vacation destination to the business location and back to the vacation destination are taken into account for travel expense purposes. The journey to and from the country visited is considered part of the private stay and is not reimbursable.
Travel expense reimbursement must be claimed using the form “Application for Travel Expense Reimbursement” within a preclusive period of six months. The period begins on the day after the end of the business trip.
If the calculation of the applicable travel expenses is to be based on the specific cost guidelines of a third-party funder, the respective special provisions must be attached to the application for travel expense reimbursement.
- Landesreisekostengesetz RLP (State Travel Expenses Act; only in german)
- Daily and Overnight Allowance Rates under the Foreign Travel Expenses Regulation (ARV) (as of January 1, 2026)
The text of the LRKG (State Travel Expenses Act) in its currently valid version is available for download via the download portal of the Department of Personnel and Legal Affairs on the administration’s homepage.